Kudou Retsu
__FORCETOC__ Kudou Retsu (九島 烈) is one of the most important figures from the Ten Master Clans in the 21st century, and until twenty years before 2095, was acknowledged to be one of the strongest Magicians in the world. He is the Clan Head of the Kudou Family, an elder known as the "Patriarch". Kudou Retsu is first introduced in Volume 3 of the light novel series when he, among with other VIPs, gave speech during the opening of the Nine Schools Competition. Appearance and Personality He is an elderly man, whose age is around 90 in years. Despite his old age, his sharp, hawk-eye like gazes and booming, clear voice contrasts his aged appearance. Despite being over nine decades old, Elder Kudou mind still retains the keen intellect displayed in his younger years. Being a man who speaks his mind freely, he believes that magic is a means, not the end goal of magicians, and that unrelentingly training to raise one's magical power was not enough to become a great magician. While this flies in the face of ideals the upper echelons of modern magic society seeks uphold, using wit and cunning to demonstrate the validity of his convictions and show that even a thoroughly crafted and executed small-scale magic can be a flexible and agile tool that outshines a larger-scaled magic that is used ineffectively. Background When he retired from his services in the military, Elder Kudou held the rank of major general. Back when Kudou was in the service, the rule that the "Ten Master Clans shall not assume high roles in government" had not been established yet. That was because this rule was put into effect after experiencing a series of circumstances involving Kudou himself that ultimately led to the establishment of this rule. This old Magician stands near the pinnacle of magical society within the country. His influence in this magical community is enough to shake the foundation of modern magic society. After this elder, once renowned as one of the strongest, retired from the front lines, he rarely appeared in public events but for some reason chose to appear every year at the Nine Schools Competition. Once hailed as the pinnacle and the craftiest, of magicians, Kudou Retsu rose to prominence during the early days of the Ten Master Clans as a soldier within the JSDF. He is described as a veteran magician hundred battles and has participated in the military engagements occuring within the East China Seas against the magicians of the Guangdong Army. After retiring from the military, Elder Kudou has since chaired the committee for the Ten Master Clans and currently remains a magic advisor to ministry of national defense. He has rarely appeared at public events but for some reason chooses to appear every year at the Nine Schools Competition. Thanks to his tenure as chairman for committee of the Ten Master Clans, Elder Kudou seems to be very knowledgeable about the current situation within the Yotsuba family, as well as some of its secrets. He is at the same time concerned that the combination of Yotsuba Maya, Shiba Miyuki (as the new head of the Yotsuba), and Shiba Tatsuya would elevate the Yotsuba into an existence that would eclipse the Ten Master Clans and perhaps upset the balance of the magical community. Ironically, Yotsuba Maya and Shiba Miya were briefly his students in their youth. Because of the mandate placed on magicians by him and other leaders to create magicians who are humanoid weapons, Elder Kudou believes that in the future there will come a time when a rift will form between Magicians and the rest of humanity. What he envisions happening as a result of this rift and what his plans are for it are unknown, but for now he is seems to be focusing on gaining support from people with ties to the Yotsuba in order to prevent them from becoming too powerful. Abilities Twenty years ago from the present time in the novel, Elder Kudou was once known as the strongest Magician in the world. In the world of Magic, he is regarded as the "Sly Warlock" from his reputation as being the most "pinnacle" and "craftiest" among Magicians. The Magic of Kudou Retsu is in nature mischievous and superlative. Even in his 90's, Kudou is still highly capable in using magic as a flexible and agile tool better then most Magicians out there. His knowledge and skill in Magic is vast and deep enough where he can easily use low-level Magic in terms of Magic Power but excellently prepared and executed to have even the most talented, elite magicians hailing from all nine high schools affiliated with Magic Universities to succumb to it. His words can shake the very foundation of modern magic society today. He is an expert in information gathering, shown by his ability to breach the Yostuba Family's information control; knowing some customs and names of Family members as well as knowing about Tatsuya and Miyuki. No other family has mentioned the ability to do this. Magic ➨'Sensory Interference Magic' : A Magic used by Kudou Retsu to trick everyone except 5 people in the opening ceremony during the Nine Schools Competition in Chapter 4, Volume 3. It was used in a large scale to cover the entire meeting. The magic's scale was large enough to impact everyone present at the same time, yet subtle enough to escape detection. By using an obvious distraction to capture everyone's attention which was a captivating, young lady during the meeting, this sort of "change" doesn't qualify as phenomenon rewriting, but as a "phenomenon" that occurrs naturally. This "magic trick" was low in strength and was used as a demonstration to remind everyone present at the opening ceremony that Magic is a means, magic itself is not the end goal. ➨ Parade :A Kudou Family secret magic developed by Kudou Retsu himself after Yakumo's predecessor taught "Motoi" to him in the 9th Magical Research Institute. While the original illusion magic Kudou learned, "Motoi", focused on creating a body clone, his magic, Parade, focuses on changing the image of the user. It writes coordinates into a false body that is a superficial duplicate that can't be differentiated with the caster. This magic is helpful in fights since all of the opponents' attacks cannot target the real body. Thus, in order to break through 'Parade', it's necessary to either locate the body between the time when the old illusion breaks down and a new illusion is created or disregard the five senses to find the coordinates of the body directly in the dimension of information (only for Tatsuya). Category:Characters Category:Ten Master Clans Category:Clan Head Category:Kudou Category:Magicians Category:Military Category:Japan Category:28 Families Category:Number Family System